Johnny Got His Gun.
Dalton Trumbo
Bantam Books, 1939, 243 pp.
$7.50, 0-553-27432-5
Reviewed by Sawyer
Johnny is an American boy that gets drafted into World War 1. He is badly injured during battle and has to stay in the in the war hospital. In time he realizes that he is blind, deaf, lost all of his limbs, and is missing most of his head. He is a dead man that has been given life. Is it a gift or a burden?
Dalton Trumbo wrote this book using two sides. One side is of Johnny as a young boy growing up and the other is Johnny after the accident and trying to die. There are two different parts. There is the first part called “The Dead” and “The Living”.
This book starts off slow and gets exciting towards the middle. This realistic fiction book is a great war story and is the best book ever, it’s number one. “Sorry Chuck Norris.” I read this book because I saw the movie and liked it and I like the song “One” by Metallica, which is about this book.
The Book Thief By: Markus Zusak
$11.99 550 pages 2005 Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN 978-0-375-84220-7
Reviewed by: Karina
“ * A SMALL PIECE OF TRUTH*” I do not carry a sickle or a scythe.
I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold.
And I don’t have those skull-like
facial features you seem to enjoy
pinning on me form a distance. You
want to know what I truly look like?
I’ll help you out. Find yourself
a mirror while I continue.
That is a small comment from your narrator, Death. Markus is weaving the story of Liesel Meminger, book thief from the perspective of Death. Liesel is a foster child going to her new home in Molching, Germany with the Hubermmans. She was going to with her brother but he died on the train ride over. That’s when she steals her first book but not her last. Throughout the years there is more book stealing and, she meets a new friend, Max. Max is a Jew in hiding and Liesel learns he’s just like everyone else but the Fuhrer doesn’t agree.
Markus Zusak does an amazing job of explaining the life of an average German girl living during World War Two. I felt emotionally connected to Liesel when all the twist and turns of her life were told. The little side comments from Death were an interesting twist to the story.
Night
By: Elie Wiesel
Bantam Books, 1960, 109 pages, $5.50
ISBN 0-553-27253-5
“The three “veterans,” with needles in their hands, engraved a number on our left arms. I became A-7713. After that I had no other name.”
Eliezer is a Jewish boy during the Holocaust. His town is warned of the Germans and their cruelty, but the don’t believe it’s possible. His family and neighbor are shown the truth when the Germans create a ghetto, there is still hope left. Then their family is swept away on a cattle train to Auschwitz where they witnessed the horrors cremating any Jew no matter the age. Eliezer and his father are separated from the rest of his family and sent to Buna.
Elie Wiesel does a wonderful job of describing all dreadful things that go on in a concentration camp. I felt I was living with Elizer during his struggle to survive the impossible and bear the sight of everyone who died for being “imperfect.” I suggest this book to anyone wanting to learn about the Holocaust. Be prepared to wish it wasn’t true.
Karina
The Warhorse
Don Bolognese, June 2003
ISBN# 9780689854583 pp. 176
$ 16.95
"Your training in arms is to be used only for our work here in the armory; I will never allow you to go to war. Never!"
Have you wanted to do something but your parents wanted something else? Will that’s exactly what Lorenzo feels like he wishes to leave the armory and go to war with the duke (his hero). But his father wants him to stay and continue to past down their family tradition by making armor for the duke not fighting by his side. But Lorenzo feels different so he gets his Warhorse and gives it to the duke and tells the duke he’ll always be by his side. Lorenzo follows the duke’s army and then he begins his journey as a hero himself. I highly recommend this book The Warhorse to anybody who loves nit bloody books but stories behind the wars.
By: Keanu Sims
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette
By: Carolly Erickson
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN-13-9780312361501
Price: $12.55
368pp
What would you do if you were sent across to the world to marry only at thirteen? Marie Antoinette, thirteen years old is an Austrian princess. She must separate from her beloved mother and loving siblings to marry Prince Louis of France at only the age of thirteen! When she arrives she is shocked to see that her future husband is an immature child. She must learn how to be a proper French queen and rule France on her own. When the people of France go against her what will she do to finally make peace? Throughout the entire thing she keeps a diary. This diary has been published into a book.
I absolutely loved this book when I read it. It was so compelling with its amazing description an amazing emotion. Since it was in the format of a diary it was a fast reader. I was very disappointed when I finally finished the book. Carolly Erickson has done a wonderful job of bringing history to life and she has written many other books that revolve around the same topic and are just as superior. There were many parts where I felt crushed and sad and parts where I couldn’t even bottle all the happiness inside of me. I recommend this book for anyone interested in finding out the mystery beyond only history textbooks.
My Brother Sam is Dead Simon & Schuster books for young readers 216 pp. 17.95$
James Collier & Christopher Collier ISBN 0-02-722980-7
By: Drake
What would you do if you lost everyone close to you? In My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim, the main character, will experience the tragedies of war. The setting is in Redding CT in1775-1783 in the Revolutionary War. The effect on Redding will change everyone forever. There you are either a loyalist or a rebel.
Sam, the headstrong rebel, and Life, the head strong father and loyalist are important characters. Tim is a middle man who can’t decide to be a rebel or a loyalist to Great Britain. Tim learns that war can change everything. Instead of being told it he has to learn it the hard way.
I would recommend this to readers who love historical war fiction. The book had me drawn to it. I couldn’t let go of it. As the author moves the characters into place for the final scene, Tim learns the hard, cold truth of war.
Johnny Got His Gun.
Dalton Trumbo
Bantam Books, 1939, 243 pp.
$7.50, 0-553-27432-5
Reviewed by Sawyer
Johnny is an American boy that gets drafted into World War 1. He is badly injured during battle and has to stay in the in the war hospital. In time he realizes that he is blind, deaf, lost all of his limbs, and is missing most of his head. He is a dead man that has been given life. Is it a gift or a burden?
Dalton Trumbo wrote this book using two sides. One side is of Johnny as a young boy growing up and the other is Johnny after the accident and trying to die. There are two different parts. There is the first part called “The Dead” and “The Living”.
This book starts off slow and gets exciting towards the middle. This realistic fiction book is a great war story and is the best book ever, it’s number one. “Sorry Chuck Norris.” I read this book because I saw the movie and liked it and I like the song “One” by Metallica, which is about this book.
The Book Thief By: Markus Zusak
$11.99 550 pages 2005 Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN 978-0-375-84220-7
Reviewed by: Karina
“ * A SMALL PIECE OF TRUTH*”
I do not carry a sickle or a scythe.
I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold.
And I don’t have those skull-like
facial features you seem to enjoy
pinning on me form a distance. You
want to know what I truly look like?
I’ll help you out. Find yourself
a mirror while I continue.
That is a small comment from your narrator, Death. Markus is weaving the story of Liesel Meminger, book thief from the perspective of Death. Liesel is a foster child going to her new home in Molching, Germany with the Hubermmans. She was going to with her brother but he died on the train ride over. That’s when she steals her first book but not her last. Throughout the years there is more book stealing and, she meets a new friend, Max. Max is a Jew in hiding and Liesel learns he’s just like everyone else but the Fuhrer doesn’t agree.
Markus Zusak does an amazing job of explaining the life of an average German girl living during World War Two. I felt emotionally connected to Liesel when all the twist and turns of her life were told. The little side comments from Death were an interesting twist to the story.
Night
By: Elie Wiesel
Bantam Books, 1960, 109 pages, $5.50
ISBN 0-553-27253-5
“The three “veterans,” with needles in their hands, engraved a number on our left arms. I became A-7713. After that I had no other name.”
Eliezer is a Jewish boy during the Holocaust. His town is warned of the Germans and their cruelty, but the don’t believe it’s possible. His family and neighbor are shown the truth when the Germans create a ghetto, there is still hope left. Then their family is swept away on a cattle train to Auschwitz where they witnessed the horrors cremating any Jew no matter the age. Eliezer and his father are separated from the rest of his family and sent to Buna.
Elie Wiesel does a wonderful job of describing all dreadful things that go on in a concentration camp. I felt I was living with Elizer during his struggle to survive the impossible and bear the sight of everyone who died for being “imperfect.” I suggest this book to anyone wanting to learn about the Holocaust. Be prepared to wish it wasn’t true.
Karina
The Warhorse
Don Bolognese, June 2003
ISBN# 9780689854583 pp. 176
$ 16.95
"Your training in arms is to be used only for our work here in the armory; I will never allow you to go to war. Never!"
Have you wanted to do something but your parents wanted something else? Will that’s exactly what Lorenzo feels like he wishes to leave the armory and go to war with the duke (his hero). But his father wants him to stay and continue to past down their family tradition by making armor for the duke not fighting by his side. But Lorenzo feels different so he gets his Warhorse and gives it to the duke and tells the duke he’ll always be by his side. Lorenzo follows the duke’s army and then he begins his journey as a hero himself. I highly recommend this book The Warhorse to anybody who loves nit bloody books but stories behind the wars.
By: Keanu Sims
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette
By: Carolly Erickson
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN-13-9780312361501
Price: $12.55
368pp
What would you do if you were sent across to the world to marry only at thirteen? Marie Antoinette, thirteen years old is an Austrian princess. She must separate from her beloved mother and loving siblings to marry Prince Louis of France at only the age of thirteen! When she arrives she is shocked to see that her future husband is an immature child. She must learn how to be a proper French queen and rule France on her own. When the people of France go against her what will she do to finally make peace? Throughout the entire thing she keeps a diary. This diary has been published into a book.
I absolutely loved this book when I read it. It was so compelling with its amazing description an amazing emotion. Since it was in the format of a diary it was a fast reader. I was very disappointed when I finally finished the book. Carolly Erickson has done a wonderful job of bringing history to life and she has written many other books that revolve around the same topic and are just as superior. There were many parts where I felt crushed and sad and parts where I couldn’t even bottle all the happiness inside of me. I recommend this book for anyone interested in finding out the mystery beyond only history textbooks.
My Brother Sam is Dead Simon & Schuster books for young readers 216 pp. 17.95$
James Collier & Christopher Collier ISBN 0-02-722980-7
By: Drake
What would you do if you lost everyone close to you? In My Brother Sam is Dead, Tim, the main character, will experience the tragedies of war. The setting is in Redding CT in1775-1783 in the Revolutionary War. The effect on Redding will change everyone forever. There you are either a loyalist or a rebel.
Sam, the headstrong rebel, and Life, the head strong father and loyalist are important characters. Tim is a middle man who can’t decide to be a rebel or a loyalist to Great Britain. Tim learns that war can change everything. Instead of being told it he has to learn it the hard way.
I would recommend this to readers who love historical war fiction. The book had me drawn to it. I couldn’t let go of it. As the author moves the characters into place for the final scene, Tim learns the hard, cold truth of war.